National Salmonella Outbreak Includes Oregon, Herbal Supplement Kratom To Blame

Oregon state health officials are urging people to stop using the herbal supplement, kratom. Several test samples have been found to contain the salmonella bacteria. Two people fell ill in Oregon and now those cases are linked to a national outbreak.

Listen

Listening...

/

1:01

Through its investigation, Oregon Health Authority epidemiologists learned one of the sickened Oregonians bought kratom online. The other got it at a smoke shop called Torched Illusions. State Health Officer Dr. Katrina Hedberg says they tested capsules from shops in Beaverton and Tigard.

Kratom is an herbal supplement. It is the common source in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak.

“And what we found in testing the samples of kratom was that there were a number of different stains of Salmonella. So it looked like it was actually pretty common, about half the samples that we collected did have Salmonella on them.”

Dr. Hedberg says so far 48 people in 30 states have been sickened by the salmonella outbreak. All cases have been traced back to kratom consumption.

Kratom, also called ketom, is a tropical plant in Southeast Asia. According to the Center for Disease Control, its leaves are consumed for stimulant effects and as an opioid substitute.

As an herbal supplement, kratom is not regulated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration.

In Lane County, opioid overdose kills more people than car accidents. It’s a crisis public health officials have seen coming. Now, a countywide effort to reduce narcotic prescribing is having dramatic results—cutting opioid use by 40%. It comes down to tapering dosage and offering patients alternative treatments for chronic pain.